The present invention relates to woven elastic compression bandages of the type used for wrapping sprained ankles or for other applications where the stretched strip is wrapped around a part of the body.
Woven elastic compression bandages have long been used in the treatment of humans and animals. Such bandages are stretchable in a longitudinal direction to about twice their relaxed length and are applied by being wrapped in a stretched condition around that part of the patient's body being treated, i.e., appendage, trunk, etc.
Two general types of woven elastic compression bandages have been available. In one type, the contraction power was provided by warp yarns of elastomeric material, such as rubber, the "Spandex" material available from E. I. duPont de Nemours and Co., or the like. In the other type, the contraction power was provided by warps formed from "stretch" yarns of such materials as nylon. These latter yarns get their primary stretch characteristics from configurational aspects (e.g., crimps or the like) of the individual filaments which make up the multifilament yarn ends.
Woven elastic bandages relying upon elastomeric materials for their stretchability qualities typically have elastomeric warp yarns located at intervals across the width of the woven fabric, with inelastic warp yarns (e.g., cotton yarns) disposed in the zones between the elastomeric warp yarns. In one such construction the elastomeric warp yarns were interwoven with weft yarn picks in a 1.times.1 weave and the cotton warp yarns were interwoven with the weft yarn picks in a 2.times.2 weave.
These elastomeric yarn bandages have been used widely, but they are subject to various disadvantages. For example, their durability is not great, particularly in service conditions where washing is required, and the contraction forces developed in response to elongations of the bandages are not entirely satisfactory. Additional "snap back" capacity and greater uniformity of compression forces in use would enhance the desirability of these bandages, but such improvements do not appear to be likely.
Stretch nylon elastic compression bandages available prior to the present invention had many excellent qualities. In one such construction, textured multifilament nylon yarns made up the entire warp of the fabric, providing a multiplicity of sources of contraction power over the entire width of the fabric and providing exceptional tensile strength. Moreover, this construction retained its desirable qualities over a long period of use, even in the face of repeated washings in water hot enough to cause breakdown in elastomeric materials.
Nevertheless, there remained room for further improvement, even with respect to these stretch nylon bandages. Wrinkling or puckering of these fabrics sometimes occurred in connection with the application of the bandages to patients. Exact analysis of the underlying causes of such wrinkling or puckering is difficult if not impossible, but the phenomena appear to be associated with force patterns developed within the fabric during elongation of the bandage. As such elongation proceeds, the fabric tends to depart somewhat from its initially flat state and a rolling tendency sometimes is observed at the margins of the fabric. Additionally, it has been discovered that these fabrics are subject to some yarn slippage which is generally undesirable and which can detract significantly in some cases from the acceptability of the bandage product.
The present invention seeks to preserve the advantages of the stretch nylon elastic bandages while minimising or obviating problems of the type noted above.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel elastic compression bandage and method for fabrication thereof.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel elastic compression bandage which exerts enhanced compressive support upon a treated body area.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a novel elastic compression bandage which is highly resistant to width-wise warp yarn slippage.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel elastic compression bandage which minimizes the occurrence of wrinkling or puckering when the bandage is stretched.